Software Configuration

Management
- Introduction
- SCM repository
- The SCM process
What is Change Management
• Also called software configuration management (SCM)
• It is an umbrella activity that is applied throughout the software process
• It's goal is to maximize productivity by minimizing mistakes caused by
confusion when coordinating software development
• SCM identifies, organizes, and controls modifications to the software being
built by a software development team
• SCM activities are formulated to identify change, control change, ensure that
change is being properly implemented, and report changes to others who may
have an interest

(More on next slide) 2

What is Change Management
(continued)
• SCM is initiated when the project begins and terminates when the software is
taken out of operation
• View of SCM from various roles
– Project manager -> an auditing mechanism

– SCM manager -> a controlling, tracking, and policy making mechanism

– Software engineer -> a changing, building, and access control mechanism

– Customer -> a quality assurance and product identification mechanism

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Software Configuration
• The Output from the software process makes up the software
configuration
– Computer programs (both source code files and executable files)
– Work products that describe the computer programs (documents targeted at
both technical practitioners and users)
– Data (contained within the programs themselves or in external files)

• The major danger to a software configuration is change

– First Law of System Engineering: "No matter where you are in the system life
cycle, the system will change, and the desire to change it will persist
throughout the life cycle"

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Origins of Software Change
• Errors detected in the software need to be corrected
• New business or market conditions dictate changes in product
requirements or business rules
• New customer needs demand modifications of data produced by
information systems, functionality delivered by products, or services
delivered by a computer-based system
• Reorganization or business growth/downsizing causes changes in
project priorities or software engineering team structure
• Budgetary or scheduling constraints cause a redefinition of the system
or product

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Elements of a Configuration
Management System
• Configuration elements
– A set of tools coupled with a file management (e.g., database) system that
enables access to and management of each software configuration item
• Process elements
– A collection of procedures and tasks that define an effective approach to
change management for all participants
• Construction elements
– A set of tools that automate the construction of software by ensuring that
the proper set of valid components (i.e., the correct version) is assembled
• Human elements
– A set of tools and process features used by a software team to implement
effective SCM

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The Software Configuration

programs documents

The pieces data

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Have you established a baseline yet?

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Baseline
• An SCM concept that helps practitioners to control change without
seriously impeding justifiable change
• IEEE Definition: A specification or product that has been formally
reviewed and agreed upon, and that thereafter serves as the basis for
further development, and that can be changed only through formal
change control procedures
• It is a milestone in the development of software and is marked by the
delivery of one or more computer software configuration items
(SCIs) that have been approved as a consequence of a formal
technical review
• A SCI may be such work products as a document (as listed in MIL-
STD-498), a test suite, or a software component

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Baselining Process
1) A series of software engineering tasks produces a CSCI
2) The CSCI is reviewed and possibly approved
3) The approved CSCI is given a new version number and placed in a
project database (i.e., software repository)
4) A copy of the CSCI is taken from the project database and
examined/modified by a software engineer
5) The baselining of the modified CSCI goes back to Step #2

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modified
Baselines
SCIs
Project database
approved
Software Formal
engineering SCIs technical SCIs
tasks reviews

stored

SCIs

extracted
SCM SCIs
controls

BASELINES:
System Specification
Software Requirements
Design Specification
Source Code
Test Plans/Procedures/Data
Operational System

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The SCM Repository
Paper-based vs. Automated
Repositories
• Problems with paper-based repositories (i.e., file cabinet containing folders)
– Finding a configuration item when it was needed was often difficult
– Determining which items were changed, when and by whom was often
challenging
– Constructing a new version of an existing program was time consuming and
error prone
– Describing detailed or complex relationships between configuration items was
virtually impossible
• Today's automated SCM repository
– It is a set of mechanisms and data structures that allow a software team to
manage change in an effective manner
– It acts as the center for both accumulation and storage of software engineering
information
– Software engineers use tools integrated with the repository to interact with it

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Automated SCM Repository
(Functions and Tools)
Requirements
Versioning
tracing

SCM Repository

Functions
Dependency Data integrity Configuration
tracking Information sharing management
Tool integration
Data integration
Methodology enforcement
Document standardization

Change Audit
management trails

(Explained on next two slides) 14

Functions of an SCM Repository
• Data integrity
– Validates entries, ensures consistency, cascades modifications
• Information sharing
– Shares information among developers and tools, manages and controls multi-user
access
• Tool integration
– Establishes a data model that can be accessed by many software engineering tools,
controls access to the data
• Data integration
– Allows various SCM tasks to be performed on one or more CSCIs
• Methodology enforcement
– Defines an entity-relationship model for the repository that implies a specific process
model for software engineering
• Document standardization
– Defines objects in the repository to guarantee a standard approach for creation of
software engineering documents

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Repository Content
use-cases
analysis model source code
business rules
business functions scenario-based diagrams object code
organization structure flow-oriented diagrams system build instructions
information architecture class-based diagrams
behavioral diagrams Construction
design model Content
architectural diagrams
Business interface diagrams
Content component-level diagrams
technical metrics test cases
test scripts
test results
quality metrics
Model
Content
V&V
Content

Project
Management
project estimates Content
project schedule
SCM requirements
Project Plan
change requests Documents SCM/ SQA Plan
change reports
System Spec
SQA requirements
Requirements Spec
project reports/ audit reports
Design Document
project metrics
Test Plan and Procedure
Support documents
User manual

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Toolset Used on a Repository
• Versioning
– Save and retrieve all repository objects based on version number
• Dependency tracking and change management
– Track and respond to the changes in the state and relationship of all objects in the
repository
• Requirements tracing
– (Forward tracing) Track the design and construction components and deliverables
that result from a specific requirements specification
– (Backward tracing) Identify which requirement generated any given work product
• Configuration management
– Track a series of configurations representing specific project milestones or
production releases
• Audit trails
– Establish information about when, why, and by whom changes are made in the
repository

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The SCM Process
Primary Objectives of the
SCM Process
• Identify all items that collectively define the software configuration
• Manage changes to one or more of these items
• Facilitate construction of different versions of an application
• Ensure the software quality is maintained as the configuration evolves
over time
• Provide information on changes that have occurred

(Compare this process to the five SCM tasks)

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SCM Questions
• How does a software team identify the discrete elements of a software
configuration?
• How does an organization manage the many existing versions of a program
(and its documentation) in a manner that will enable change to be
accommodated efficiently?
• How does an organization control changes before and after software is
released to a customer?
• Who has responsibility for approving and ranking changes?
• How can we ensure that changes have been made properly?
• What mechanism is used to appraise others of changes that are made?

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SCM Tasks

Status reporting

Configuration auditing

Version control

Change control

Identification

CSCI CSCI
CSCI CSCI

(More on next slide) 21

SCM Tasks (continued)
• Concentric layers (from inner to outer)
– Identification
– Change control
– Version control
– Configuration auditing
– Status reporting
• CSCIs flow outward through these layers during their life cycle
• CSCIs ultimately become part of the configuration of one or more versions
of a software application or system

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Identification Task
• Identification separately names each CSCI and then organizes it in the
SCM repository using an object-oriented approach
• Objects start out as basic objects and are then grouped into aggregate
objects
• Each object has a set of distinct features that identify it
– A name that is unambiguous to all other objects
– A description that contains the CSCI type, a project identifier, and change
and/or version information
– List of resources needed by the object
– The object realization (i.e., the document, the file, the model, etc.)

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Change Control Task
• Change control is a procedural activity that ensures quality and consistency as
changes are made to a configuration object
• A change request is submitted to a configuration control authority, which is
usually a change control board (CCB)
– The request is evaluated for technical merit, potential side effects, overall impact on
other configuration objects and system functions, and projected cost in terms of
money, time, and resources
• An engineering change order (ECO) is issued for each approved change request
– Describes the change to be made, the constraints to follow, and the criteria for review
and audit
• The baselined CSCI is obtained from the SCM repository
– Access control governs which software engineers have the authority to access and
modify a particular configuration object
– Synchronization control helps to ensure that parallel changes performed by two
different people don't overwrite one another

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Version Control Task
• Version control is a set of procedures and tools for managing the creation and use
of multiple occurrences of objects in the SCM repository
• Required version control capabilities
– An SCM repository that stores all relevant configuration objects
– A version management capability that stores all versions of a configuration object (or
enables any version to be constructed using differences from past versions)
– A make facility that enables the software engineer to collect all relevant configuration
objects and construct a specific version of the software
– Issues tracking (bug tracking) capability that enables the team to record and track the
status of all outstanding issues associated with each configuration object
• The SCM repository maintains a change set
– Serves as a collection of all changes made to a baseline configuration
– Used to create a specific version of the software
– Captures all changes to all files in the configuration along with the reason for changes
and details of who made the changes and when

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Configuration Auditing Task
• Configuration auditing is an SQA activity that helps to ensure that quality is maintained
as changes are made
• It complements the formal technical review and is conducted by the SQA group
• It addresses the following questions
– Has the change specified in the ECO been made? Have any additional modifications been
incorporated?
– Has a formal technical review been conducted to assess technical correctness?
– Has the software process been followed, and have software engineering standards been
properly applied?
– Has the change been "highlighted" and "documented" in the CSCI? Have the change data and
change author been specified? Do the attributes of the configuration object reflect the change?
– Have SCM procedures for noting the change, recording it, and reporting it been followed?
– Have all related CSCIs been properly updated?
• A configuration audit ensures that
– The correct CSCIs (by version) have been incorporated into a specific build
– That all documentation is up-to-date and consistent with the version that has been built

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Status Reporting Task
• Configuration status reporting (CSR) is also called status accounting
• Provides information about each change to those personnel in an organization
with a need to know
• Answers what happened, who did it, when did it happen, and what else will be
affected?
• Sources of entries for configuration status reporting
– Each time a CSCI is assigned new or updated information
– Each time a change is approved by the CCB and an ECO is issued
– Each time a configuration audit is conducted
• The configuration status report
– Placed in an on-line database or on a website for software developers and
maintainers to read
– Given to management and practitioners to keep them appraised of important
changes to the project CSCIs

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The End

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